da casino： Chelsea vs. Arsenal this weekend will reignite one of the Premier League’s greatest rivalries. With their on-pitch battles previously topped off by managerial conflict, the intensity has been astonishing for the last few years. This time we are unlikely to see pushing and shoving on the touchline, but the match does have so very much riding on it.
da betcris： With Chelsea bouncing towards another Premier League title, Arsenal are perhaps the final chance for the chasing pack to pull Chelsea back and keep their title dreams in the distance. The Gunners, however, were awful last time out as they fell to defeat at home to Watford.
Arsene Wenger has problems to solve with his team. Still looking vulnerable and too often collapsing in matches they really must win, the clash with Chelsea this weekend is an almost immediate shot at redemption.
Here are THREE things they must do if they are to nullify the Blues’ attacking brilliance…
Sitting man
Chelsea, particularly Eden Hazard, rely on being able to find the ball in pockets of space between the opposition’s lines. Eden Hazard will often start alongside Diego Costa before dropping into the space to receive the ball on the half turn and run at the defence. Hazard driving at your defence is bad, it’s very, very bad.
One way to try and limit the opportunities the Belgian has to do this is to play a midfielder in that space. A player not charged necessarily with man marking, but with occupying the areas that Hazard and Pedro or Willian will look to drift into. This should force Nemanja Matic and N’Golo Kante into playing the role of creators and leaves Antonio Conte’s side looking blunt.
Congest the Middle
As part of adding a sitting midfielder, Arsenal would benefit from having three in the middle of their midfield, rather than the usual two. This allows the deepest midfielder to retain his place while Matic and Kante can be picked up by the other pair. Kante and Matic must be hounded in possession, as they were by Spurs to such effect earlier this season.
Force Chelsea to play the ball wide – particularly to their left – to pressurise Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses. Alonso especially has shown he can vulnerable when panicked, winning the ball off of him can enable a fast attack angling towards the uneasy Gary Cahill. Stopping the simple passes from Chelsea’s midfield to their front three can become a great springboard for attacks.
Rile Costa
It’s hard to leave this one off any list. Costa still shows evidence of getting frustrated, even in his supposedly becalmed self this season, and is always vulnerable to end up having a heated chat with a match official. The best way to rile him, however, is to frustrate him. Limit his chances in possession and make sure the service cannot get to him.
Arsenal have two centre-backs capable of handling the hot-headed forward, but even ten minutes like their first-half display against Watford could see Costa kill the game off.